This unprofessional infatuation eventually became so obvious that press members themselves have been openly discussing it for the past couple of months.
With this in mind, conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin absolutely skewered two of the most obvious Obama lovers during his program Wednesday, describing the "slobbering" that happens when "the news in this country is turned over to politicians, or the staffers of politicians."
Playing audio clips of NBC's Tim Russert and MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Levin accurately demonstrated how the sycophantic adoration exhibited by the press for the junior senator from Illinois during this campaign is a bias and a journalistic disgrace likely worse than anything Americans have ever witnessed concerning a presidential candidate.
Levin began his marvelous examination (ten-minute audio available here):
I said find out all the slobberings you can find out and get audio on Chris Matthews and Tim Russert. Slobbering all over Barack Obama. It is a disgrace. Now, they helped derail the Hillary Clinton campaign, and I assure you they're gonna, they're gonna be promoting Barack Obama right to the Oval Office if they can.
Levin then called for each slobbering example.
July 27, 2004, after Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention:
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: I have to tell you, a little chill in my legs right now. That is an amazing moment in history right there. It is surely an amazing moment. A keynoter like I have never heard. Dick Gephardt, thanks for joining us. You're a political veteran. There's a new kid on the block.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), MISSOURI: A star is born.
MATTHEWS: A star is born. Amazing reception.
February 12, 2008:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I have to tell you, you know, it's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event. He speaks about America in a way that has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the feeling we have about our country. And that is an objective assessment.
Levin replied: "That's an objective assessment from this moron."
December 3, 2007:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: And the other guy, you know, Obama, he's so fresh-faced, so brand-new, almost third world in his sort of presentation, he doesn't click as a usual politician.
January 9, 2008:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I heard him speak before hundreds of people in the old Palace Theatre in Manchester. It was the best speech I've ever heard. And it went on and on, and it had four crescendoes, it was conversational, then it was unbelievable. And I'm tearing up, and I'm writing down notes, and I'm trying to keep track of this thing. And he did it again that night at midnight.
March 18, 2008:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: A divide as American as the Grand Canyon, a speech worthy of Abraham Lincoln. Let's play Hardball! [...]
How did the speech play? We'll have much more on this momentous day and what I personally view as the best speech ever given on race in this country. One that went beyond "I have a dream," to "I have lived the dream but have also lived in this country."
Levin quipped:
A better speech than Lincoln? A better speech than Martin Luther King? He's got things going up and down his legs. On and on now for a period of years. But I'm not done.
March 18, 2008:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: And I think this is the kind of speech I think 1st graders should see, people in the last year of college should see before they go out in the world. This should be, to me, be an American track (ph), something that you just check in with now and then, like reading "Great Gatsby" and "Huckleberry Finn." Read this speech once in a while, ladies and gentlemen. This is us. It`s us with the scab ripped off.
March 24, 2008:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: The American experience that's going on right now in McDonalds and in living rooms around the country, the feeling people have when they see you standing next to Barack Obama with your different backgrounds. I tell you it's a stunning picture. It's not important what the politics of the Clinton family is now. It's what important to the country. And I really think we've got to stop talking about this as if this was a sitcom. We had eight years of a sitcom. What are the Clintons up to? How do they relate to each other? What do they feel today? Mika, it's a sitcom, and it's gotta end. We gotta focus on America. We're stuck in Iraq. 4,000 people are dead now because of decisions made by politicians like the Clintons. We've gotta focus on what matters and stop the sitcom approach to politics.
Levin moved on:
But Matthews isn't alone. Ladies and gentlemen, there's plenty more. We're just touching the tip of the iceberg. And then we decided to take a look at Tim Russert. We didn't spend all day on this, but look at this treasure trove.
February 4, 2007:
TIM. RUSSERT: Another opponent in the Democratic race for the presidency is Barack Obama of Illinois. In October of 2002, he was a state senator in the Illinois legislature. He came out against the war, and I want to share his words with you and our viewers. "I know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military is a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.
"I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars." His judgment was on the money.
May 6, 2008:
TIM RUSSERT: We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be, and no one's going to dispute it, Keith.
Levin responded: "Way back on May 6, pushing for her, pushing, more pushing."
May 7, 2008:
MATT LAUER: Who's the Democratic nominee going to be?
TIM RUSSERT: Barack Obama. I cannot find an objective Democrat who does not think this race is over.
LAUER: All right. You can find Hillary Clinton, though, and according to her speech last night, it's not over.
RUSSERT: They'll continue to try to go on, but it's going to be choreographed.
Levin: "This was a month ago!"
June 3, 2004:
TIM RUSSERT: I was thinking, tomorrow, what would I like to do tomorrow, and, no more primaries to cover. One, I'd like to be in that meeting between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But absent that, I would love to teach American history at an inner-city American school tomorrow morning. How great would that be? Just to look in those faces and listen to those kids what they witnessed and saw tonight.
Levin summarized:
This is a news reporter? These guys are a joke. Two former Democrat staffers. Democrat operatives. One of whom worked for Tip O'Neill and Jimmy Carter. The other worked for Pat Moynihan and maybe Scoop Jackson, I don't remember. Oh no, Cuomo, that would be Russert. This is what happens when the news in this country is turned over to politicians, or the staffers of politicians. We get this kind of reporting, which is no reporting at all. And we could have gone on and on and on.
We couldn't have said it any better, Mark. Bravo!
